The now infamous musician, Kanye West, has supposedly been good friends with the current president, Donald Trump, for a very long time. Although Kanye announced he did not vote at all in the 2016 election, since then, he has been everything but shy about expressing his political views to the world. For over a year, he has consistently aligned himself with Donald Trump and many alt-right views. Most recently and most notably, Mr. West gave a lengthy speech after his SNL performance while wearing a Make America Great Again hat. He was talking mostly about his support for Trump and his ideas. He received a lot of hate from the audience, the general public, and other celebrities as per usual. Later, while on his plane ride home, he sent out a tweet calling for the abolition of the 13th amendment. This caused extreme turmoil within the community as the controversy arose. The following week, Kanye West visited the White House itself where he gave a monologue speech in the oval office in front of Trump and other politicians. Opinions on all of this are mixed but tend to fall more on the liberal side, against Trump and Kanye.

The recurring opinion on this whole situation is that Kanye’s actions are unacceptable and he must be held accountable for them. Otherwise, he will keep getting away with these “inexcusable” actions. No one has successfully been able to do this, however. Due to his high status and popularity, Kanye can voice his opinions without any repercussions. One man that came the closest to telling Mr. West off was Van Lathan, one of the hosts of TMZ. On the show, Kanye asked, “Do you feel like I’m thinking free and feeling free?” Lathan responded with, “I actually don’t think you’re thinking anything. I think what you’re doing right now is actually the absence of thought.” He goes on with, “And while you are making music and being an artist and living the life that you’ve earned by being a genius, the rest of us in society have to deal with these threats to our lives.” He is saying Kanye’s remarks about slavery and the 13th amendment are idiotic and cannot be left uncriticized especially at his status as a celebrity due to his enormous effect on millions of people. This is one of the most common opinions on the situation, but what are some more local opinions and ideas like? Let’s see.

I interviewed several students at Wheeler High School from a variety of classes so that there is a diversity in opinions and thoughts. Teachers were not interviewed as politics is not an acceptable topic from that to discuss in school. The first interview was with Remy Begg, from a math class in the new building of Wheeler. I questioned, “Do you believe Kanye should not support Trump and why?” Mr. Begg replied with, “I believe anyone should be able to express their opinions freely. Isn’t that the definition of free speech? Even if I don’t agree with Kanye’s political views, I will never be in favor of suppressing his voice.” I responded with, “Do you think what Kanye is doing is ethical and morally acceptable?” He summarized, “Yes, I do believe it is acceptable and should not be frowned upon, however, Kanye does have a lot of power and influence in this world, so maybe he could try to stay more secrete with his thoughts.” My next interview was with Quincy Louis, currently in the yearbook class of Wheeler High School. I asked Quincy the same questions, and he declared, “Kanye can support whoever he wants because that’s HIS opinion. He should not make these opinions public though because it is obvious that they will cause major controversy within many communities. I believe celebrities should be encouraged to keep their political opinions secretive as they can influence many people based on the fact that they are famous.” I then interviewed James Briley, Maria Andrade, and Nassim Joorabchi. Overall, the common opinion on the situation at hand was that even though everyone has a right to free speech, it is not ethical for people of high positions to voice their political opinions to the common people.

My take on this predicament is as follows: Kanye is not wrong in expressing his ideas at such a national level. He has the freedom of speech like everyone else in the United States, and since he has worked to obtain his position as a musical genius and successful businessman, he has the power to voice his opinion to his followers. It might be more ethical to restrain from these tendencies, but he should not be shunned for these actions.